John stephenson



J. STEPHENSON.

Car Bfake.

Patented Dec. 27, 1859.

-I-lllHIp I IIlllH lnventon Witnesses:

A M. PHUTO -LITHU.CD. NN WSBURNE' S PR 00553.)

ears,

UNITED STAWENTOFFWE JOHN STEPHENSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BRAKE FOR HORSE-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 26,626, dated December 27, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN STEPHENSON, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Brake for Horse-Cars, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents an elevation of my car with the truck and brake bars in section. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention relates particularly to brakes applied to one-horse city oars. hese cars are usually so constructed that the body of the car turns on the king bolt, and that at the termini of the route the driver is enabled to drive the horse around and to reverse the car without leaving his seat, which would be necessary if he had to unhitch the horse, and hitch him to the other end of the car, as is usually done with two-horse cars. Hitherto those reversible cars were made without brakes or so that the brakes could be used only in one direction; and my invention consists in arranging the brakes of a reversible car or vehicle in such a manner that the driver is enabled to operate the same with equal facility and by thesame lever in whatever direction the car moves.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe it.

The body, A, of the car is attached to the platform, B, of the truck by means of the king bolt, C, in such a manner that it can be turned and its position reversed on the truck, so that when the car has arrived at the terminus of its route, the horse or horses can be driven around and the body of the car turned the other way without unhitching.

The truck rests on four wheels, D D, which are secured to axles, E, that turn in the axle boxes, F, in the usual manner. The platform, B, is furnished with projecting a, and suspended from these cars by means of hooks b, are the brake shoes, G G, one for each of the wheels, as clearly represented in the drawing. The shoes, Gr, on one -or other vehicle substantially as described fse that the same a can be applied from the drivers seat with equal facility in whatever,

pair of Wheels are connected by a curved bar,

0, and the shoes, G, by ai similar Jcurved: 1

bar, 0, and the two bars, 0 c, are connected by a rod, d, of such a length that the shoes are kept at a small distance from thefaces of the wheels when,lefttothemselves The,

outer edges ofthefcurved bars, 0 0, form from the cena p 6O 1 portions of a circle described The brake lever, H, 1s secured to the front: side of the car body by means of a forked pendant, and a spring, 1f, throws thelowerf end of this lever back from the curved org f segment bars, 0 0'3 The upper end ofthe lever, H, extends through a slot,ih, in thef foot board, 2', so that it can conveniently be: 1

reached from the drivers seat, I. By forc ing the upper end of theibrake leverout jits i 1 c, and the shoes, Gr, are pressed against the faces of the wheels, D, and assoonfasithe lower end is forced up on the segment bar;

force exerted on the upper end of the lever relaxes the lower end of the same is thrown I I back from the segment bar, 0, by the actiou of the spring, f, and the brakes are taken 9113; When the car is reversed the lower end of the brake lever,,H, together with thewhole 3 body of the car turns around the center of the king bolt, G, andit is} brought-tin the proper position to act on the othersegment bar, 0, in the samemanner inwhichit acted in its former positionon thesegment baifo,

nd by forcing out theupper end [of the 85,

brake lever the ISllQQS, G, are now applied to the wheel, D, j a t I By these means the driveris enabled to 1 operate the brakes from his seatbymeans of the same lever inwhatever direction thecar 1 it 1 may be turned.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new,;andvdesire to secure Q by Letters Patent, is

Arranging the brakes of a reversible car i f direction the car orvehicle may be turned. 3

JOHN STEPHENSON;

Witnesses:

MIGH. HUGHES, MONTGOMERY M. LIVINGSTON- 

